The GOP Leadership Is Literally Hiding Their Obamacare Replacement Bill From Congress and the Public

It's almost like they want to take away 20 million people's healthcare under the cover of darkness.

For years, the Republicans have been screaming about the need to repeal Obamacare every chance they get. Then with November's election giving them control of the presidency as well as both houses of Congress, they became the dog that caught the car: It was easy to yell about how terrible Obamacare was, when there was nothing they could really do about it, but now that repealing it would mean taking healthcare away from millions of people, and replacing it would be a tall and complicated task, the GOP has had to face up to the reality of the situation and figure out how they want to proceed. Their decision? Be as shady as humanly possible about it.

Today the GOP planned on finally revealing their replacement to the Affordable Care Act. Well, "revealing" is a strong word. It calls to mind the idea that they would... y'know... tell people what their plan was. No, the GOP leadership instead planned on keeping the bill under lock and key in a basement, away from both Democratic eyes and the public's eyes .

Here's a particularly eye-opening and infuriating excerpt from a BuzzFeed News report:

Lawmakers prowled the halls of Congress searching for the House
Obamacare plan as it was reportedly moved between secret locations
Thursday.

Republicans are keeping their Affordable Care Act replacement plan top
secret for unclear reasons. Thursday morning it was secured in a
Congressional office guarded by up to four people. But when word of
that location got around, the bill was quietly moved to another secret
location. As lawmakers showed up to read the bill they were turned
away frustrated, perplexed and empty-handed.

Republicans are literally playing hide and seek with one of the most important pieces of legislation our country will see in years. This is like a game of Clue, only it's democracy being murdered with a monkey wrench by Mitch McConnell and Co. in the billiard room. And they're even being shitty to their own kind! Members of the GOP who weren't wild about the idea of keeping the bill secret from people were barred from seeing it as well. Take Rand Paul for instance. He showed up looking for the bill only to be rebuffed:

Now obviously, I disagree with Rand Paul on what the end result should be here. He's sure the GOP leadership isn't going far enough with their plan, and I'm certain they're going way too far. But that's fine. We can debate these issues, but to do that we need to be able to know what the issues are. As long as the GOP decides to keep this a secret, it's not possible for anyone to make an informed decision about it. And when you consider this alongside reports that the GOP is planning to vote the bill through committee before the CBO has a chance to score it (and therefore inform the Congress what the financial and coverage effects of the bill might be), you start to get the sense that even those with access to the bill won't have enough information to make an informed decision about it. But who cares? It's only the health and wellness of millions of Americans at stake.